Sucker Punch
by ParamoreXO
Summary: The first time he sees her that day she's punching a Freshman in the face.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: The first time he sees her that day she's punching a Freshman in the face.**

**Character Dynamics: Artemis, Dick Grayson ( A.K.A. – Robin )**

**Episode: Anytime after #12, "Homefront"**

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><p><strong>Spearing a juice box with his straw, he takes a thoughtful sip as he settles down at a vacant table in the cafeteria. <strong>Knowing that Barbara, engulfed by the line of students waiting to purchase their meals, will take a while to join him, he minds his own business as he savors the flavor of his drink. Chewing on the end of his straw, decidedly bored, his mind cannot help but formulate numerous ways to kill a man with a mere juice box. In the process of devising scenario number seven, he's suddenly jarred from his personal musings when a commotion explodes four tables down. Instinctively, he swiftly slides out of his chair and takes a battle stance, prepared for anything that dares to confront him.

Well, anything except _this_.

With bright eyes he watches, mouth agape, as Artemis Crock, tenth-grader, newly admitted transfer student and notorious rebel punches a boy nearly twice her size in the nose and drives him into a table with her fist. Through the throng of students crowding around the scene and above their excited yells, the blonde assailant's vicious slander assault his ears. Once pried away from the bleeding boy, she's hauled off to the the Dean's office even though, worst case scenario, a nosebleed and wounded ego is all that the victim really suffered.

Still, no one knows Artemis like he does, and therefore can't possibly fathom that, in their world, the blood trailing down the boy's face would simply be the equivalent of a paper cut. _He's milking it_, Dick concludes sourly as the bloody boy _insists _his friends act as human crutches, acting as if the journey to the nurse's office simply could not be made on his own two feet. The crowd disperses, and, aside from an upturned table and a small scarlet puddles, the cafeteria appears orderly once again.

Dick knows what that was about. Everyone knows what that was about, actually; Artemis Crock is a bit of a legend at Gotham Academy and even if you hadn't taken the past few weeks to get to know her personally, you still _know _her. The boy in his Freshman class was indubitably taunting her about coming from the slums of Gotham on a pity scholarship.

High school students, public or private, thrived on gossip. After a mouth off with a rather snobbish student on her third day at the institute, the fact that she was a transfer from Gotham North attending solely on a scholarship spread like wildfire through the student body. Today's development was merely fuel to that vile, hungry fire.

Much to Dick's amusement, his teammate has failed to see him as just that: _a teammate. _His alias wasn't terribly clever, but hair jell and naked eyes seemed to fool her. The surprise snapshot he took of them on her first day was, naturally, his antics at work. Just some fun and simple way to mess with her head. Since then, however, he knew he'd grown to be more than _that one Freshman _to her. Although he's made a few lighthearted jabs at her ( and, to be fair, she was always quick to retaliate ), he doesn't mock her like the others. If Artemis has been pulled out of her classes for the remainder of the day, he considers, then he's doomed to oblivion as far as his mathematics period goes. Advanced as he his in the subject, and, additionally, being the school's Mathlete honoree, it's no surprise the school board approved of him skipping a level. It was also no surprise for him to be placed in that class with Artemis. Their expected friendly banter throughout the hour, however, was shot if she was to be absent. Sighing heavily, he jammed the plastic straw of his juice box into the empty pouch. Crushing the container, he tosses it over his shoulder to dispose of it. Since the start of the school year, he's proven an accurate shot at the wastebasket behind him and never bothered to look for his target anymore.

"Ow! Dick!"

Turning around to the source of the irate tone, his eyes collide with a blazing blue pair. "Sorry Barbara, didn't see you there." Chuckling as the girl picked the crumpled carton from the ground and properly disposed of it, he began to unwrap the remainder of the lunch Alfred packed for him.

"So, did I miss a fight or something?" Seating herself beside him, she picks up a fork and pokes around at the food on her plate. "I heard a bunch of shouting while I was at the salad bar."

"Mmm, you didn't miss much." He slips a smirk at her, which seems to throw her off.

Pausing mid-bite, Barbara imploringly arches an eyebrow and carefully sets her fork down. "Really?"

"You sound dubious."

"I am. What happened?"

"Artemis literally pounded the snot out of the Freshman football team's top linebacker." Suddenly, the cellular device in his pants pocket vibrates, nearly activating his compact utility belt. Quick to silence his phone, he checks the screen to see that the new message had been issued by Bruce.

Noting the splatter of blood around an overturned table, she's unable to suppress the surprise in her voice, "But he's... really big."

Hastily typing out a reply to his mentor, a cackle flees his lips, "Bats is trying to reason with the Dean right now. He's having trouble grasping the prospect of his nephew getting his face smashed in by a girl."

"Or," she interjects, "that his nephew would dare to insult a girl."

Returning his phone back to its pocket, he shakes his head in disagreement. "I still think it's because he got beaten by a girl." After all, Bruce had always been one to tease him for every time Barbara could pin him when they sparred. He wasn't entirely sure, but it seemed that was just the way it was with guys.

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><p><strong>AN: Because Artemis & "that one Freshman" are fun to write. ^-^ ****Most likely, I'll end up adding on to this one-shot with a few other chapters. Of course, they'll involve Robin & Artemis' interactions at school... and maybe I'll drag in the rest of the team eventually? Feedback can determine this!**

_So you read it. Like it? Love it? Flame it? Let me know in a review!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Character Dynamics: **Artemis-centric

**A/N: **This is **not** a continuation of the previous chapter

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><p>She hates it here. All around her, the only emotion she sees in her classmate's faces is a stupidity she's all too familiar with detecting. It was the stupidity of the typical human being, of the beautiful and those fortunate enough to make their way back to a loving home without so much as a second thought to account for the myriad of potential dangers that could swiftly strip them of all they know. It was the stupidity of everyone who got what they wanted in life, weather that had been achieved through arduous efforts or simply because getting what they wanted was some kind of birthright. Either way, stupidity infested their visages, and therefore they remain unremarkable.<p>

There's really no use in staying here. She knows her place in the world and is barely getting by as it is. But every instance she catches her fingers curling into her sweaty palms to form a lethal blow to some prep or playboy's stupid face, she reminds herself of the tears her mother shed and of the prestigious opportunity Bruce is offering her, so she stretches her fingers out and walks away from the thrill of a fight. She doesn't consider herself weak for turning her back. It's so easy to say "FTW" and take a swing at some fleshy, blood-filled punching bag and actually take some pleasure from it. And even though her peers may believe that she's some loose cannon and the "scum of the slums," she's been strictly disciplined her entire life and knows the difference between what is and what is not worth fighting for. She's not going to take a few cheap shots just to end what little she has here.

At the end of the school day, messenger bag slung over the padded shoulders of her uniformed blazer, she finds her way back to the apartment complex she's starting to belittle as her secondary home. With a simple change of attire ( the clip of a utility belt, a tug at her cowl, and the confident grip that encircles her bow ), she's able to destroy her last name and to resume an alternate lifestyle of heroics. Plunging into the depths of a cave, and later into the oblivion of the night, she looks around her and sees the faces of her teammates. Although she likes to think that the self-proclaimed science prodigy and speedster excels at killing off alarming quantities of brain cells, it's obvious that the covert team lacks any trace of the asininity she's dismally used to seeing on a day-to-day basis. Each of them had particularly ugly flaws, some requiring more coverage than others. And the worst part, she concludes, is that whichever side she takes in this double life of hers, she can never reveal to them who concocted the mixture of blood that surges through her veins.

And it's a shame, really. Because, in time, she's grown to know that these people are genuinely remarkable.

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><p><strong>Character Dynamics: <strong>Artemis, Dick

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><p>She took a pace or two backwards as if trying to get farther away from something that was completely beyond her understanding. In this moment, it's kind of like looking into a mirror and it gets to the point where nothing seems real. The realization presents itself too quickly and promptly eludes her. An alarming sensation flushes through her entire being and she's suddenly screwing her eyes shut to let this sudden sickness pass. When she opens her eyes, she sees that nothing is different. Her breath is bated, forcefully causing her chest to rise and fall, but the posh scenery and the worn out faces remain the same.<p>

Maybe it isn't there, but she's trying to see _something_ in the boy across the corridor. She knows that she must look absolutely idiotic standing midst the rush of stragglers who were trying to escape the blemish of a tardy slip on their perfect record, but the boy on the opposite end of the hall hasn't noticed her yet and that's all she's concerned with for the time being.

He's young, she realizes. In retaliation to an apparent exchange of words between him and his classmates, his youth seems to leak from a carefree cackle that rings down the hallway and caresses her ears. It's odd and completely absurd, but she feels as if she's met this boy at a time before her days at the Academy. But when gazes abruptly collide, she sucks in a sharp breath, shooting down all the offhand chances that she actually has met him before. She's more than certain that she would remember eyes as bright and rich as _those_.

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks a bunch to you all for the awesome feedback! I really do appreciate it! (: I realize that some of you did not want me to bring the team into this series of one-shots, so all apologies if this chapter set you off. I tried to avoid direct dialogue. Anyways, yes, I am making this into a series of unrelated ( unless I state otherwise ) one-shots. My main focus is still on Dick and Artemis ( and occasionally Babs! ) at Gotham Academy, no worries. I just felt that I owed everyone an update and this happened. So, did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Flame it? Let me know in a review, please! (:**


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